First Dungeness crab season with pot limits off to slow start amid rough seas, wind

Opening day of the first Dungeness crab season with pot limits got off to a rocky start Friday as rough seas prevented most fishermen from immediately hauling in their catch. But aficionados said the crabs will be worth the wait.

"I think the crabs are in the best shape ever. We've got that information from the sport fishermen who are allowed to go out and get crabs two weeks earlier before the commercial season starts," said Keith Fraser, owner of Loch Lomond Bait Shop in San Rafael.

Larry Collins, president of the San Francisco Crab Boat Owners Association, agreed.

"I looked at the test crabs when they came in and they are beautiful," Collins said.

Fishermen were allowed to begin pulling traps off the ocean floor shortly after midnight Friday, but the seas were too rough for many crabbers to even head out. Many boats stayed tied to the docks or anchored in places like Bolinas.

Seafood markets and crab experts said boats likely won't be bringing in their bounties until Sunday at the earliest as high winds are expected to continue through Saturday night. The National Weather Service reported sustained offshore winds of 20 to 25 mph Friday in the Bay Area with gusts as high as 30 mph. Winds are expected to diminish to 10 to 20 mph Sunday.

One San Rafael bait shop got lucky though and was able to pull in about 700 pounds of crab Friday afternoon. Scot Hill, owner of Western Boat & Tackle, said he had enough crab to keep him busy cooking until 8 or 9 p.m.

"Our boats were fishing on the inside so they could get in and out," Hill said. "Most of the boats are tied up in San Francisco."

Hill said his boats will head out again Sunday with the rest of the crab boats in the hopes of bringing in another 1,000 to 1,200 pounds.

This year's Dungeness crab season is the first conducted under a new state law that limits the number of traps fishermen can carry on their boats. The law is meant to give small boaters a chance to compete with larger boats, which mostly float down from Oregon and Washington. These large boats fish around the clock for a week or more, then head back north to fish in their territory, where the season begins later.

The law was drafted by state Sen. Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa, negotiated by a task force of fishermen and other industry stakeholders and is implemented by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. A total of about 175,000 crab pots are allowed to be dropped, which is divided among the nearly 600 fishermen permitted to fish for crab in the state. Each fisherman is allowed anywhere from 175 to 500 traps, depending on their past catch numbers from 2003 to 2008, but most have 250 to 300 traps.

As part of the program, fishermen have to pay a permit fee of roughly $1,000, plus $5 per trap, every two years, with the money going toward enforcement of the law. But locals said it's worth it to discourage large, out-of-town boaters from intruding on the Bay Area.

"That's certainly a step in the right direction. Boats come down from Washington and Oregon and put out 2,000 pots and wipe out the local crabs," Fraser said.

Hill agreed the limits are an improvement.

"I think it's a great thing. These big guys put all the small guys out of business," Hill said. "It'll keep our local fishermen employed."

Fishing groups have been trying to implement crab pot limits for more than a decade, with previous bills by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, being vetoed by leaders such as former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, said the law might need to be tweaked over time, but it's a good start.

"It's a little early to tell yet and it may take us a couple of years to see how the new law works," Grader said. "The large boats can still come down if they have a California permit, but the days of coming down, packing a big boat with 1,000 pots and scooping as much crab as they can and going back to Coos Bay are pretty much over."

Collins said he thinks the limits will be helpful during a normal season, but this year's season is not standard. He said people are coming from the far north and places like Crescent City and Eureka because their crabs aren't as plump.

"There's an awful lot of pressure from up the hill because the testing has indicated there's not much crab there," Collins said.

Grader said it's anticipated to be a lower production year than last year anyway, as crab population growth cycles change every four to seven years. Last year was a bountiful year, with more than 22 million pounds of crab harvested.

He said the good news is that production from Bodega Bay to Monterey Bay has increased in the past decade as restrictions on water pollution and pumping of the California Delta have been put in place. Better flows through the Delta and an overall healthier estuary equals more tasty crab.

"While crabs are spawned and hatched at sea, they spend part of their juvenile life in estuaries," Grader said.

Contact Megan Hansen via email at mhansen@marinij.com. The Bay Area News Group contributed to this report.